AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News ServiceNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Il, center, inspects a company under the direct control of the Korean People's Army Unit 493 in North Korea.

Is it just a test?

The last few weeks have been interesting regarding what is going on with North Korea's testing weapons of mass destruction and testing new short- and long-range rockets.

Here is an interesting topic that I wish a news organization would write about: How will the United States know if North Korea says it is testing a long-range rocket that in reality it is actually launching a missile with a nuclear device attached to it? I'm sure there has got to be a way that the U.S. will know if a rocket launch is an actual test or an actual attack.

Scary thought.

David Rien, Scotch Plains

Disappointed in choices

If Gov. Jon Corzine had been an effective governor, perhaps the Democrats in Washington would not now be worried ("If Corzine crashes, Obama will get burned," June 16).

I, who did vote for him, have been disappointed on every front. Unfortunately, I don't think the Republican candidate would be any better.

It's a dilemma for New Jersey voters.

JoAnne Armstrong, Hillsborough

Bad time for raises

An editorial in the June 15 Star-Ledger ("Schools missed the memo") asks if school boards understand the concept of holding the line in these economic times. Apparently they do not.

There also were articles describing the great parlor game of administrative musical chairs by school and municipal officials. This is not new. Town administrators/managers, school superintendents, principals and so on know moving from system to system every few years is profitable.

I do not object to individuals seeking career progression, but our municipal governments and school systems seem to encourage such movement. A recent news article noted a town manager made $14,000 -- an 11.7 percent increase -- by moving from one town to another after less than two years.

Community governing bodies need to realize that the money pit is not limitless. We need stronger citizen approval requirements for municipal and school executives. This will control runaway salary inflation and provide the ruling bodies with the paying public's limitations.

Herb Skovronek, Morris Plains

Separation of church, state

As a Roman Catholic in the Newark Archdiocese, I am outraged that our county executive is trying to use his political weight to attempt to influence Archbishop John Myers in a completely church-related administrative matter. In the June 15 article regarding St. Lucy's Roman Catholic Church ("A priest's faithful march in support'), Joe DiVincenzo admits that the money for his full-page ad in The Sunday Star-Ledger came from his political campaign.

How can the newspaper so flippantly report that one of our elected public officials is actually using campaign money to influence the decisions of the Catholic Church in his county?

Whether anyone thinks the archbishop is right or wrong on this matter is completely beside the point. All those who scream about separation of church and state concerning public displays of nativity scenes should be much more outraged at public officials using campaign money to influence church policy. If DiVincenzo's wife, who has been a life-long member of St. Lucy's, is upset with the archbishop, she can write her own letter as a private citizen. Her husband should understand his role and explain to her that as an elected official, it is entirely inappropriate for him to inject himself into the Catholic Church's business, and even more so with political campaign contributions.

Suzanne Greydanus, Bloomfield

Obama's Mideast message

President Obama's address in Cairo to the Muslims and Israelis was not only for the interest of peace and security of these people, but also for the interests of America. He realized that our country's uncritical support for Israeli treatment of the Palestinians stokes extremism and endangers our interests across the world.

Since September 2000, Israel has killed 6,300 Palestinians. Fifteen-hundred of these are children. Israel egged on the Bush administration to wage war on Iraq because Saddam Hussein was compensating Palestinian families. From the beginning and until Dick Cheney admitted recently that Saddam had no connection with 9/11, Iraq never represented any threat to America. The results of this Israeli shenanigan were 4,300 American soldiers killed and 35,000 gravely injured in Iraq.

Israel isn't a faithful ally to the United States. It never stopped spying on us. Jonathan Pollard gave our military secrets to Israel in 1986, where they were given to the Soviet Union as a price for letting a million Russians immigrate to Israel. American interests come first.

Hassan Mahmoud, Westfield

Cash-only health care

As a psychotherapist, I do not accept Medicare or Medicaid. Why? Because they pay a pittance compared to private health insurance. Yet private insurance has been reducing reimbursement rates with no warning or notification to providers. In fact, there has been no increase in reimbursement since 1994. Can you imagine not getting a raise in pay for that long and having your income reduced as well?

If President Obama's health care reform passes, any provider worth his weight will not take insurance at all and take only cash, freeing themselves from the organized crime of insurance all together. This will leave only the worst providers as "In network." Quality care will be left only to the rich, while those trying to save a buck will save little. People need to speak up and demand answers from "for-profit" insurance companies.